Ads for casinos are filled with bright lights and smiling faces, usually with a tall stack of chips. The pitch is clear: good times and big winners at casinos.
Ads promoting casino gaming in Texas tout tourism and new tax dollars that will supposedly help future Texas generations. This pitch is equally clear: Texas will be a big economic winner when casinos are legalized.
But proponents quickly gloss over the downsides. We know the house always wins. People lose lots of money at casinos; the same applies if Texas goes down this path.
A few voices, including The Dallas Morning News, have said not so fast. We at Texas Charity Advocates agree. Our mission is to preserve, protect and defend charitable bingo. We say let’s look carefully before we leap headlong into casino land.
Texans may be surprised to learn that the big losers in casino gambling will be the roughly 1,000 non-profits statewide that rely on charitable bingo to generate revenue for their service work. The game produces about $30 million annually to fund their activities. Since charitable bingo was legalized in 1981, more than $1 billion has gone into the coffers of local charities to serve their communities.
Charities like the Senior Citizens of Rowlett, the Friends of Rowlett Public Library, and the Animal Adoption Center in Rowlett generate revenue to serve their community.
In Grand Prairie, it’s the Police Association. In Cedar Hill, it’s the North Texas Firefighters’ and Fire Marshals’ Association and the Firemen’s Relief Association. The Humane Society of Dallas County, the Elks Lodge of DeSoto, and Disabled Veterans of Texas are other charities that use bingo to meet their financial needs.
While bingo may seem like a sleepy little game for senior citizens, it’s a strong economic driver, especially in smaller communities. An economic impact study commissioned by TCA in 2019 showed charitable bingo contributed almost $500 million annually to the Texas economy.
Casinos will close that valve to nothing almost overnight.
Bingo halls aren’t run by Vegas billionaires or private equity firms from Wall Street. They’re run by Texans who live and work in the local community. They know their customers and are involved in the charities they support. While they’re concerned about their businesses, they’re even more worried about the loss of revenue to these vital community charities.
No discussion about legalizing casinos is complete if lawmakers don’t include ways to protect those bingo halls, charities and the people those charities serve.
The state isn’t in desperate need of new tax revenue. With over $30 billion in reserves, the state can already fund any need — including tax cuts, as we saw from the last legislative session. Lawmakers have time to approach this cautiously and deliberately to ensure that nobody loses before the first roll of the dice.
It’s not like we need to hurry, either. Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico have already beaten us to the gambling table. Nor will we lose our opportunity to be the first and biggest in the nation. We lost that race to Las Vegas nearly a century ago.
As lawmakers discuss the pros and cons of casino gambling, they must also consider the impact on the charities, the organizations that run those operations, and the thousands of people who depend on charitable bingo to help them survive and thrive.
Tom Stewart is the executive director of Texas Charity Advocates, a statewide advocacy group that promotes and protects charities that raise money by conducting state-licensed bingo games in Texas.
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